A FIGHT TO THE FINISH

CLAIRE O’BOYLE Glens hoping to land knockout punch to reach Challenge final

ON the night Carl Frampton faces Luke Jackson at Windsor Park there’ll be another rumble taking place just a few miles away as Glentoran Women take on Cliftonville Ladies in the Electric Ireland Women’s Challenge Cup semi-final at Solitude.

In last night’s draw the two Belfast teams were first out of the hat and they will now bid to secure a spot in the Electric Ireland sponsored showpiece occasion which will bring the women’s football season to a close on Saturday, September 22 at the National Football Stadium.

Glentoran Women sent out a signal of their intent when they eased past Crusaders Strikers with an impressive 6-1 quarter-final victory in a week in the women’s sporting calendar which saw the final eight teams from the Premiership and Championship leagues battling it out to make to the last four of the competition.

The game at Rathmore saw Glentoran come out of the blocks the fastest and after only seven minutes they had the opportunity to go ahead from the penalty spot, but Crues keeper Kirsty Mccaughtry managed to turn Demi Vance’s spot kick away for a corner.

Despite the heroics of the Crues keeper the Glens were not to be denied though, and from the resulting set-piece Ali Mcmaster netted the opening goal.

However, Crusaders levelled with just over a quarter of an hour on the clock through Emily Wilson who found herself unmarked in the box and calmly stroked the ball past Ashleigh Mckinnon in the Glentoran goal.

The Glens pressed hard for the rest of the half to regain the advantage but the Crusaders defence were rock solid and certainly didn’t give any inthrilling dication of the collapse that was to ensue after the break.

Just four minutes into the second half though Mcmaster found a way through for Glentoran, doubling her tally after pouncing on the loose ball when her first effort bounced back of the crossbar.

And as the hour mark approached the Glens were in control at 3-1 when Vance made up for her earlier penalty miss with a powerful drive past Mccaughtry.

Two more goals in the 71st and 73rd minute from Rachel Rogan and Kelly Bailie put the tie to bed for the Glens, with Sarah Connolly latching onto the ball three minutes into stoppage time to knock home the sixth and final goal of the game.

Overall a total of 33 goals were scored across the four quarter-finals with the other three fixtures seeing the teams in the top half of the Premier League outranking the opposition.

One of those winners was current cup holders Sion Swifts who progressed to the last four with a victory over Championship side Carnmoney Ladies FC.

The underdogs fought bravely and, despite conceding four goals in the first half, they held firm for a large part of the second before capitulating.

By then the Premier class of the Swifts told and they banged in another four goals without reply – Mcdaid 4, Toland 2, Mcmullan 1 and Boyle Carr 1 doing the damage.

The holders will now face current league leaders Linfield Ladies, whom they beat last season on their way to lifting the trophy, on the same Saturday, August 18 date.